For lovers of sophisticated jazz

By GRAHAM REID

Dave Frishberg isn't a well-known jazz songwriter. In fact dead guys like Johnny Mercer are probably better known.

But Frishberg's wry and sophisticated lyrics, and his delicate melodic sensibilities are much admired in some circles, especially where similarly sophisticated songs by Blossom Dearie and Richard Rodney Bennett are played.

And Christchurch's Malcolm McNeill is not only a fan and interpreter of these musicians' work but stands an equal in their company.

On his latest album, West 79th Street, he shares billing with Frishberg, an association which came about from correspondence which stretches back years.

McNeill had recorded a track by songwriter Margo Guruan (who wrote for the Modern Jazz Quartet and put lyrics to Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman) and on the same album covered Frishberg's Wheelers and Dealers.

Guruan heard the album, liked it, and informed Frishberg, who was equally impressed when he heard McNeill's treatment of his song.

An occasional correspondence followed and when, at the end of 2000, McNeill was invited to perform in New York he approached Frishberg to see if he was available to record a few songs together.

"Initially he said he didn't want to rehearse and so I thought we could maybe do four tracks with piano in an afternoon. But after we met he said, 'How about I get my rhythm section together and see what happens'?

"It was rather nice in that it wasn't something I had to push to set up and once my musical credentials were comfortable with them, I didn't feel I was treated like some hick from the sticks. They knew I was on the wavelength of the songs."

Frishberg came into jazz as a young man at the end of the Prohibition era so is a living link back to great names such as Pee Wee Russell.

"So I enjoyed being in his company just for the yarns alone," says McNeill.

The album was recorded in one day in a studio among the redwoods in Oregon and features four Frishberg tunes alongside music that comes from the Great American Songbook - composers such as Billy Strayhorn and the Gershwins - and it is as interpreter of these standards that McNeill has made his reputation.

McNeill has had a long friendship with Cleo Laine and John Dankworth (to whom West 79th Street is dedicated), has performed at festivals across Europe, had a hit in Japan with his song Melissa. He recorded a duet album with Kiri Te Kanawa and in 1990 was awarded a New Zealand Commemoration Medal for his services to music, but he admits there was a period after that when the work dried up and he wondered if he had gone out of fashion.

And because of lack of interest on the part of record shops he now markets his albums instead through his website (www.malcolmmcneill.com).

But he looks towards concerts with Grammy-winning pianist and expat composer Alan Broadbent, concerts in Australia and perhaps back to the States.

"The number of people who know these songs is always small, but they all know each other and they are pleased to pass on contacts and songs between each other."